The major four banks have recently been caught up in a series of scandals involving providing poor financial advice and unjustly withholding insurance payouts. The four bank CEOs were also called before a parliamentary inquiry to explain why they hadn’t passed on interest rate cuts in full to their customers.

The two are alleged to have recommended that customers roll out of their other funds into their Westpac-related superannuation accounts.

However, both Westpac and BT are not permitted to provide personal financial product advice under their Australian financial services licences. ASIC also alleges they did not provide a proper comparison of the superannuation funds as required by law.

ASIC also alleges the two failed to do all things necessary to ensure that the financial services covered by their licences are provided efficiently, honestly and fairly.

The first hearing will be on February 2 in the Federal Court in Sydney.

These proceedings form part of ASIC’s Wealth Management Project started in Octoiber last year, focusing on the wealth divisions of the major banks, AMP and Macquarie.